District Man Sentenced to 70 Months for Bank Robbery Hold-Up at Branch in Downtown Washington

Defendant Arrested Minutes After the Crime

            WASHINGTON – Paul Bernard Jones, 59, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 70 months’ imprisonment on a federal bank robbery charge for a hold-up last summer in downtown Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Jones pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on January 28, 2019. The plea, which the Court approved, called for an agreed-upon prison sentence of 70 to 87 months, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The Honorable Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Jones to 70 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. As part of Jones’s sentence, he was ordered to forfeit $1,433 of U.S. Currency found on his person after the bank robbery, and pay back the bank $17 in restitution. Finally, Judge Berman Jackson ordered Jones to undergo anger management treatment, substance abuse treatment, and a variety of other conditions upon his release.

            According to plea documents, on June 11, 2018, at approximately 9:10 a.m., Jones entered a TD Bank branch in the 1700 block of Connecticut Avenue NW. He walked up to a teller, took a wadded-up piece of paper, and tossed it at her. He then stated “give me everything, give me hundreds, fifties, and twenties only and don’t push anything. I have something on me.” The wadded-up piece of paper also demanded money and contained a threat. The teller provided Jones with $1,450 in cash and he fled the bank.

            Within minutes, the Metropolitan Police Department and FBI responded to the bank. An MPD officer observed Jones at the intersection of 14th and R Streets NW, a few blocks from the bank. He tried to run, but was immediately apprehended. Law enforcement located $1,433 in cash in a search of the defendant. Jones has been in custody since his arrest.

            The prosecution grew out of the efforts of the FBI Bank Robbery Task Force.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu, Assistant Director in Charge McNamara, and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the work of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Catherine O’Neal and Legal Assistant Emma Atlas of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Rosen of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, who prosecuted the matter.